This invention relates to improvements in a fuel lid apparatus for use in an automotive vehicle having a slide door.
In such a fuel lid apparatus used in an automotive vehicle that a fuel lid is placed within a sliding region of a slide door, generally a stopper for the slide door is operated according to the opening and closing actions of the fuel lid. The stopper for the slide door is constructed to allow the slide door to selectively move between an engaging position at which the stopper comes into engagement with the slide door so that the slide door is kept at a partly or half opened position and a non-engaging position at which the stopper does not come into engagement with the slide door so that the slide door can not be kept at the partly or half opened position. When the fuel lid is opened during fuel supply, the fuel lid apparatus moves the stopper to the engaging position so that the slide door can open to the partly or half opened position while the fuel lid is opened. Thus, interference between the slide door and the fuel lid can be prevented, for example, during fuel supply. When the fuel lid is closed, the fuel lid apparatus moves the stopper to the non-engaging position so that the slide door can be fully opened. Usually, such fuel lid apparatus includes a push rod displaceable according to a degree of the opening of the fuel lid. A link is connected to the push rod and rotationally moved following the movement of the fuel lid. A cable is provided to connect the link to the stopper of the slide door installed in a vehicle body.
In such a fuel lid apparatus, it often occurs that the fuel lid is compulsorily closed under a condition where the slide door is kept at the partly or half opened position after the slide door is brought into engagement with the stopper to be put into the partly or half opened position. Under this circumstance, although a force for moving the stopper to the non-engaging position acts to the link by closing the fuel lid, the slide door kept at the partly or half opened position inhibits the stopper from moving to the non-engaging position. Hence, there is a fear that an excessive force acts on the push rod, the link and the cable thereby to deform them.
For solving the above problems, a proposition is made in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-241239, in which a fuel lid apparatus includes a link which is constituted of first and second links which are relatively rotatable. The first link is connected to the push rod and pushes the push rod in the direction to open the fuel lid, upon receiving a biasing force from a first spring. The second link is connected through a cable to a stopper. Additionally, the first and second links are relatively rotatably connected to each other through a second spring. In case that a fuel lid is closed so that the force for moving the stopper to the non-engaging position acts on the first link, when the slide door is kept at the partly or half opened position to inhibit the stopper from moving to the non-engaging position, the first and second links make their relative rotation to release an excessive force.
However, drawbacks have been encountered in the above conventional fuel lid apparatus of Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-241239. Specifically, although the excessive force can be released by the relative rotation of the first and second links, the number of component parts is unavoidably increased because the link is composed of the two links. Moreover, since the first spring biases the push rod in the direction to open the fuel lid by its elastic restoring force, the elastic restoring force tends to lower to weaken the biasing force to the push rod as the push rod is displaced in the direction to open the fuel lid. Owing to this, there is a fear that the fuel lid can not be rotationally moved with a sufficient force.